Cute: Saurav Ghai was walking home from playschool when the wall collapsed on him

A council chief shown a photograph of a wall which collapsed and killed a toddler told a court today he 'wouldn't be losing sleep' about its safety.

Banker’s son Saurav Ghai, aged two, died when the 6ft 6in boundary wall collapsed in high winds as he walked home from playgroup with his nanny.

Camden council, which was responsible for its upkeep, has admitted breaching health and safety obligations leading up to the tragedy in January, 2007.

But the authority denies failings stretching back 10 years to the last time the wall was repaired in 1997.

At a hearing to determine the full extent of the council’s responsibility, Patrick O’Neill, Camden’s housing repairs chief, rejected suggestions that the authority had failed to supervise a contractor’s work properly or inspect the job.

He told Southwark Crown Court: 'I think it would be a fair position to take that you could have relied on Chatterton’s [the contractors] to build the wall using due diligence and the correct materials.'

But he admitted the council did not know whether the contractor had completed the work itself or sub-contracted it to another bricklayer.

Shown photographs of the wall and asked whether they raised concerns about its condition, Mr O’Neill said he 'would not be losing sleep' about whether a section was likely to collapse.

'From what I can see, there doesn’t appear to be distress to the wall,' he added. The court has heard the wall was “extremely badly built” and did not comply with British building standards.

Tragic: The court heard how the brick wall - first built in the 1970s - was too thin for its height, making it vulnerable of collapse in windy conditions

Broken family: Saurav's family, including mother Desiree, father Vinay and brother Arun, at the scene in 2007

Prosecutor James Ageros said walls with brickwork of that type are now only allowed to be built to a maximum of 2ft 6in high.

Camden council admits a single charge of failing to discharge its duty under the Health and Safety Act by not inspecting, maintaining or repairing housing stock within the borough, including the boundary wall.

Passers-by, including an off-duty fireman, desperately fought to save the boy after he was pulled from the rubble - but Saurav died from multiple injuries an hour later.

His parents, £200,000-a-year City worker Vinay and investment analyst Desiree, both 40, sat in court to hear the catalogue of errors which killed their son just yards from their £1million home in Belsize Park, North London.

Yesterday Mr Ageros said there had been an ‘assumption’ that the work had been carried out properly but without any follow-up checks.

He added:‘The wall was built extremely badly. The issue will be not whether this wall was built properly in the first place, but whether Camden was at fault for not realising that it was not properly built.’